Despite God’s mighty works and steadfast faithfulness, Israel continually rebelled and tested God. As a consequence for their unbelief the people wandered forty years in the wilderness. Wilderness wandering is always intended to bring God’s people to total dependence on Him.
Today’s narrative brings us to the end of the wilderness period. Israel is on the cusp of entering the promised land, but first Joshua, Israel’s leader, would send out two spies to determine if God had handed over the land to them.
Two Spies, A Prostitute, And A King
Two Israelite spies entered Jericho to scout out the land. Somewhere along the way their identity was discovered by Jericho’s king so they sought refuge in the house of Rahab the prostitute (Josh. 2:1-3). Scripture does not reveal how this course of events came to be, but what it does show us is God intentionally making provision for the faithful in a land of darkness.
When the King sent men to discover the spies, Rahab deceived them and sent them away from her house. The spies were welcomed in peace (Heb. 11:31). Although her lying to protect the spies was not acceptable in God’s sight, her faith was. It is important to remember that sin is never acceptable. However, God uses broken, imperfect people to accomplish His will in spite of our failings.
God prepared Israel for forty years to enter Canaan. Along the way, Israel could only see their own problems, their own personal stories, but God was never working in one nation alone. All the while word of God’s greatness was spreading. Yahweh was using the testimony of Himself amongst His chosen people to prepare the way for others, like Rahab, to enter His family and participate in His plan of salvation.
Saving Faith
Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.
For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan.
When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below."
- Joshua 2:8-11
Here was a foreign woman living in a wicked nation with a less than reputable job. She represented everything Israel’s law was against. But Rahab was no different than Israel had been before the Exodus. She was a slave to sin, oppressed by darkness, with no means to save herself. But God revealed his light and love to Rahab through the testimony of Israel.
Rahab’s salvation was produced by the same means as ours. She believed God was God alone who had power over life and death. She acknowledged her life could only be saved by God’s grace. Her confession was not only made with her mouth. Genuine belief flowed from her heart (Rom. 10:8-10).
Kindness and Faithfulness
Rahab believed God could spare her and her family from Jericho’s destruction. She requested that the spies would show kindness to her and her father’s family by saving them from death in return for her kindness to them. God had a greater kindness in store for Rahab.
The spies readily agreed to spare Rahab but they extended kindness beyond mankind’s ability to be kind. The Hebrew words for kindness in Joshua 2:14 are hesed and emet. Together these words represent extending God’s mercy to the lowly and needy and bringing another into God’s covenant, faithful love. This was a very reflection of how God revealed himself to Moses upon the establishing his covenant with Israel. The spies were now extending this same covenantal love to Rahab.
“The LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
- Exodus 34:6-7
The Sign of the Covenant
Before leaving, the spies gave Rahab specific instructions to ensure her salvation. She must not betray them and she must tie a scarlet cord from her window. Anyone inside of the house where the scarlet cord hung would be saved from destruction but if anyone went outside “his death would be his own fault.” (v. 19)
A crimson covering over the house would have served as a symbol to Israel that death would pass it by. Just as the Israelites painted blood upon their doorposts before the first passover so the angel of death would not claim the life of their first born, so the cord would be a reminder that God extended salvation to Rahab and all those who were in her house. It serves as a reminder to us today that without the shed blood of Christ we cannot receive salvation.
Remembered for Faith
Many people’s stories are told in the Bible but few extend beyond a few pages of Scripture. Rahab’s story is one that is memorialized far beyond Joshua 2. After Jericho’s defeat, Rahab’s family settled outside the camp of Israel, but Rahab dwelt amongst the center of God’s community.
Matthew 1 picks up Rahab’s story revealing her marriage to a man from Judah. God honored her faith by allowing her to become the great-great-grandmother of King David and part of the genealogy of Jesus. She is later remembered in Hebrews and James.
“By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.”
- Hebrews 11:31
Rahab’s account of faith is preceded by Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, and Moses - all pillars of faith in Israel’s community. Rahab is an unlikely character in this account due to her background but Abraham had a similar background. He lived in a foreign land where they worshipped false gods, yet when Yahweh revealed himself, Abrham believed, left his home and walked with God.
Moses lived a similar life. He grew up in Pharaoh’s household but “chose to suffer with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.” (Heb. 11:25) God honored Rahab’s faith because rather than remain in the familiar or live on the outskirts of the camp she was wholly committed to God.
Our Call to Faithfulness
Salvation comes by grace through faith. It is a free gift from God, but what will we do with faith after we have received salvation? We love to tell the stories of Rahab, Abraham, and Moses and encourage others to have faith like them, but more often than not we live our faith like King Amaziah.
“Amaziah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Johaddan; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the LORD’s sight but not wholeheartedly.”
- 2 Chronicles 25:1-2
I believe this is one of the most tragic stories in all of Scripture and the most familiar. Amaziah knew God. He followed the Law and even listened to God’s prophet. After God granted Amaziah salvation in battle, Amaziah went after the gods of the world (2 Chron. 25:14-15, 20).
How often do we try to live a good moral life in the name of our faith in God but also seek after things we think will satisfy us? How often are we content to sit outside the camp of God’s people than to choose suffering with the people of God over the fleeting pleasure of sin?
You probably don’t remember or have never heard of Amaziah, at least not like you have heard and know Rahab and David. Why is that? Because Amaziah did not follow God wholeheartedly.
What about you? Will you live with deep, whole hearted faith? God has equipped you to live a life of faith that is active with godly works (James 2:20-26). Trust in him like Rahab did.
